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We visited the MEIS (Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah) in Ferrara. We had looked forward to this visit because we have a special interest in Jewish history and knew that Ferrara had an especially rich Jewish history. Moreover, this new museum prides itself in its innovative museography and inclusive outlook on the history of the Jews and Italy and has the lofty goal to show that the new minorities emerging today in Italy deserve the rights and respect that were denied to the Jews. All of this made us eager to visit the museum. Unfortunately, we were disappointed on almost all counts. The museum addresses itself mostly to a public that knows almost nothing about Jews. It limits itself to repeating reductive commonplaces about the Jews that foreground social stigma, persecution and dietary laws, while paying hardly any attention to the contributions they made to art, industry, commerce, and intellectual life. By its use of special effects, 3d videos, surrounding sounds, etc.. the museum seems to want to reach the largest possible audience. However, its choice of videos (lectures read poorly by university scholars) is not adapted to this audience, and in any event the videos are inaudible because there is too much noise from the many videos and sounds playing at the same time. The overall effect is an unbearable cacophony that makes you want to leave the exhibit as soon as possible. In the one room where there is an analysis of a painting, the visitors have to sit so close to the huge screen that one cannot even see the images. Never mind that there are hardly any original objects exhibited, and that no mention is made at all of Ferrara’s rich Jewish history. Never mind that we do not understand why the exhibit abruptly stops at the Renaissance, we are happy to escape to the inside courtyard that features a playful labyrinth for children, illustrating the Jewish dietary laws. The exhibit takes it up again in another part of the former prison where the museum settled with the Italian racial laws of 1938 and the extermination of Jews during World War Two. This second part of the exhibit is more effective than the earlier historical part: the longer video is of higher quality and there are blissfully no competing sounds. The message of the necessity of the respect of human rights is clearly conveyed and is a very useful one. We left the museum with a feeling of having learned very little. This museum is unfortunately much inferior to the other Jewish museums we have visited around the world. This exhibition, at least as it stands now, is not worth the detour for people interested in the history of the Jews in Italy, since it does not even communicate the basic information found in a general encyclopedia article on the subject. Hopefully, this new museum will evolve with time and enrich its coverage to include the contributions of Jews in Ferrara and throughout Italy in all fields.…
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Date of experience: October 2020
1 Helpful vote
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ThIs was an eye-opening introduction to the history of Jews in Italy from the ancient world through the fascist regime. The curated historical material is fascinating and tremendously informative. The design and organization of the museum is moving and profound. The interviews with current day Ferrara jewish leaders provided tremendous insights and understanding. This is a worthwhile way to spend a morning, moving, enriching and thought-provoking.…
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Date of experience: February 2020
2 Helpful votes
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You will get much more out of this museum if you take the guided tour. You must arrange ahead of time if you want it in English. I agree that is is small but what’s there is well done. My Italian friend who knows little about Judaism enjoyed it as well. I think the development of this museum should be supported- the history is important. The bookstore has tons of books- I looked at all the ones in Italian, not sure how much they have available in English but it was interesting to see all the Israeli authors and classic Jewish texts ( like Shalom Aleichem) which are in Italian.…
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Date of experience: October 2019
1 Helpful vote
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The exhibition part of the museum is very good but there isn't a lot of it, and we were through in about 45 minutes even with listening to all the (very interesting) recordings. Then there was a very moving film of the experiences of Italians who had been deported to Auschwitz. But when we asked about the exhibition "2000 years of history through the eyes of Italian Jews", we were told that it wasn't ready yet. So the main part is yet to come. It was disappointing, and quite expensive.…
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Date of experience: March 2019
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I was super impressed by the museum s sensitivity to the history of all minority and ethnic groups while never forgetting it is a Jewish museum. The intro movie is an absolute must see. It’s fascinating that Jews as part of their enthusiasm for Italy received 6 times as many commendations for bravery during WW1 than typical soldiers…
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Date of experience: February 2019
1 Helpful vote
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